Feb 21, 2012

Baby carrots, a hint of fresh ginger and a touch of sour cream are blended to create this simple yet tasty soup. Perfect for lunch or dinner.

When I was a kid we had soup every night before our main dish whether we wanted to or not. I was usually not happy about this because I was pretty picky. My mom made one meal for everyone and we had to eat it, no exceptions. No mac and cheese or chicken nuggets in my house growing up!

When it came to most soups, the only way I would eat it was when Mom put it in the blender. Once pureed I actually enjoyed it.

I mention this because I'm not a huge fan of cooked carrots, but when combined with ginger, sour cream and sauteed onions then blended I really enjoy this soup and it brings me back to those days of sitting at the kitchen table with my pureed soup.

Tip: Use baby carrots, they are sweeter and already peeled.

This is freezer-friendly, gluten-free, vegetarian, and can be made vegan by using Tofutti Better than Sour Cream. Enjoy!!

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat; add onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are soft, about 30 minutes.

Add sour cream, using an immersion blender, carefully blend until smooth. Bring soup back to a boil, adjust salt and pepper to your taste.

Ladle into 4 bowls and garnish with a little more sour cream if desired and fresh chives.

One thing you should be cautious of and why baby carrots may come out with less flavor is because the cookie time should be different. Think about it like cooking a veggie. If you chop them in different sizes the cooking time on each will be different and your meal will get messed up. With baby carrots vs. large carrots for this soup, you need to try and get them even sized and maybe add them after to keep some of the flavor. Just a thought on trying them vs. full sized.

Agree with Anon. Most baby carrots are just regular sized carrots that have been shaved down for the novelty ("baby cut-style"). They seem quite wasteful. Ironically, they started baby cut-style as an attempt to save carrots that had minor flaws and couldn't be sold.

I've never cooked with them, and always use whole when making my stick blender soups. (So glad you use one too! Can't get over my love of it!) It always turns out great! You can try caramelizing the onions first before adding the stock, if you'd like to try developing the sugars a bit more to pronounce the sweetness. And a hint of orange zest goes a long, delicious way!

But seriously, pureed soups are so easy to make, so filling, and so good for you. You never need cream or milk if you add in a good potato, too! I've made delicious "cream of mushroom" soups with stock, creamy potatoes (not too many), onions, and fresh sliced mushrooms. You won't miss the dairy at all (and I'm a complete lactophile).

I came up with this version a while back that is Vegan and 3 PPV per serving, semi based on a Guy Fieri recipe; just thought I'd share it here; it was a hit at Thanksgiving as soup shooters too :) http://anamericaninbento.blogspot.com/2011/11/should-i-change-my-blog.html Mine uses carrot and cauliflower 0 I read ful sized carrots have more nutrition, so I use them more now...

I agree. I use these ingredients except for the sour cream and add in equal amounts of cauliflower as carrots. Also some garlic. Yum. The big taste difference is using the juice of half a lemon at the very end makes the flavors sing.

This looks fabulous...but unfortunately I have this stupid lingering fear of potentially high glycemic index foods! Cooked carrots are "supposed" to fall into this category...Does the addition of the other ingredients (ginger..lovely)or the onion serve to lower it's impact on insulin levels or spiking? Thanks for any enlightenment on this question and a consistently well-crafted blog offering scads of culinary inpiration.

I've tried adding Greek yogurt (whole) before with mixed results. The trick for me seems to be the heat. If I add Greek yogurt in while the soup is fresh off the stove, it will curdle and leave you with small dots of yogurt. Not a taste problem, but not the prettiest presentation. I find that if I blend it first, then add in the yogurt and blend it again with my immersion blender, it stays together quite nicely. My guess is that it's because the blending aerates the soup, reducing some of the heat before the yogurt gets added in.

Also, I say whole Greek yogurt because I tried with fat free with disastrous, clumpy results.

The soup looks wonderful! I need to buy a new hand blender. I was pureeing some soup and the hand blender started on fire. So the next time I made soup I put it int he blender, and that was a mess, not to mention it was tomato soup, ick! So I need to invest in a good hand blender!!

Is there something I can use in place of Badia Sazon with Annato. The soup looks awesome and I want to try it. I have a lot of your recipes stored one of my favs. is the turkey 3 bean chili. Awesome. Thank you.

A regular blender would work, but you would have to ladle it in in batches, and as Gina said, you have to be careful not to burn yourself. Of course, you could always let the soup cool to a reasonable warmth and then ladle it, and once it's all done, warm it back up gently. But people have been making blended soups with traditional blenders for ages. :)

YUM! My friend brought this over today. Was very good. Had right after a long walk and was really satisfying.. Just subscribed so I can't wait to see the other great recipes I will have to try on my husband !!!!

I made this last night and it was fantastic. I have been in love w/ carrot ginger soup since I had some at Earth Fare so I couldn't wait to try your recipe. I was very pleased to find it was just as good if not better and I made the whole batch for about the price of one cup at Earth Fare! I used Oikos plain nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. It seemed to curdle a little but this went away w/ the use of the immersion blender. I did take it off the stove to blend because I do not have an outlet close enough to the stove. Thanks for another fantastic recipe, Gina!

This looks very similar to the ginger dipping sauce at my favorite Japanese hibachi restaurant, both in color and texture, as well as ingredient list. Can anyone tell me if it has a similar taste? It would be very funny if it did, since I've been DYING to find a good recipe for years with zero success.

Hi Gina, do you by chance have a recipe for carrot-ginger salad dressing, like the one they serve in Japanese restaurant? I go crazy and order two of the salads and they won't give up the recipe where I am...HELP!

Found your recipe on pinterest. I just made this soup (fourth carrot soup recipe I have tried to date- not finding one I really just love)-- and this is so the winner, hands down! It's creamy, rich-tasting and completely delicious- not to mention, low in calories. I will make this again and again. Thank you for sharing!

Made this today and loved it! Almost felt a little guilty eating it, it was so good! I forgot to get the sour cream at the store so I substituted nonfat greek yogurt instead. Yummy! Keeper recipe for sure! Thanks! :)

I just discovered your blog recently and I plan on making this soup for lunch today! Judging from all the raving comments above, I'm super excited to try it! I have a feeling this recipe will become part of my regular repertoire. Thank you for sharing :)

I am just about to cook this soup, but I have decided not to add the sour light cream in it until the very last moment as I intend to make a large pot of it and tried to freeze some of it for latter on, as this soup looks like it would freeze and save me time during the week when I need some thing to heat and serve quickly, by adding the sour light cream after I have defrosted and heated it in the micro wave, I am hoping it would still tasted the same. wish me luck

I made this soup tonight. It was awesome, and I'd totally make it again. Instead of the pound of baby carrots, I used 3/4 pounds of organic regular carrots (cleaned but not pealed - I don't know if this really makes it taste better or if the taste difference is psychological) and 1/4 pound of parsnips. yumm!!!

what do you think about using heavy whipping cream instead of sour cream or yogurt? I'm allergic to milk but heavy whipping cream is ok 'cause it's all fat (no milk protein). I know this will change the nutritional info but I'm ok with that :) thoughts?

Gina, I have to say, this is absolutely delicious! I saw this recipe a while back and just now made it today (I've been craving it) and am absolutely in love! Thank you for another great recipe to add to my collection! You never fail to impress me. I have just one question though..........you call for unsalted butter to saute the onion in. Is there a reason for this (ie. does it give a different flavour than regular salted butter)?

Yum! I doubled the recipe because I had about 4 c (2 lbs) of shredded carrots. It decreased the cook time by about 10 minutes. I also used chicken broth because I didn't have veggie, so if you choose to do that, just taste before adding more salt because that has a fair amount already. And like mentioned previously, frozen ginger is the way to go, it is super easy to peel and shred straight out of the freezer. Delicious recipe!

Love your carrot-ginger soup! made it a few times, and I usually add some chopped fresh rosemary & sage to the onions which I sautee in just 1 teasp of oil. I have even thrown in leftover baked sweet potatoes! and when I don't have sour cream on hand for the garnish, I do a small drizzle of honey! YUM!

This is the first carrot soup recipe I have ever tried and I am so taken with the flavor. It is absolutely delightful. Also, I had not used my immersion blender before as this recipe notes. Tickled to utilize my tool to its potential.

My soup was excellent. I made it today. Just added few more ingredients. Half a potato with carrots. After I puréed it. I let it simmer and added chopped red bell pepper, fresh basil leaves, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder. 1tsp of olive oil .

I love this, it has become a new lunch staple for me! I was wondering if you could help me figure out how you ended up with 3PP per serving? The only point items I figured were the butter and sour cream (since broth is 0PP). Can anyone explain the breakdown to me?